Childhood Love
by Miss-Stoneflower
Summary: He admitted to himself he loved her. Then she was gone. Some time after graduation, Tai decides it's time to get back in touch with his old friends. Taiora. Not my greatest first chapter. ON HIATUS!
1. Chapter 1

Konban wa! I know I should be working on 'High School Ghost'. But I was asked to write this story by Taiora09 and I've been slaving over it for like a week (okay maybe not) and I've FINALLY finished the first chapter. It's probably really lame. I should've been writing this rather than watching Azumanga Daioh on Youtube in my two week holiday but nah.

Anyway, this is based when Tai, Sora, Matt and Joe are at university. I decided that it was easier. I mean, Taiora09 gave me a brief plot outline and I thought "Well, it's more a college years story" and so this is set at uni. Plus I went to university with my sister twice in the holidays :) and I just want to investigate. Therefore, if this sounds totally weird it's because it's based mostly on New Zealand university life.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon**

Now I should stop blathering (teehee). Ikimashou! (Let's go!)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_I'm late I'm late I'm late I'm late...._ Tai thought hurriedly to himself as he ran to his lecture. Luckily for him when he reached the lecture theatre the lecturer hadn't started, so he took his usual place at the back of the hall and took out his notebook and pens. He rested his head on his book and shut his eyes. It was the beginning of a new semester and unlucky for Tai, he had two lectures straight after one another, and they were on opposite sides of the campus. He could've skipped this lecture but since it was the first day, it wasn't a good idea. Several other late comers entered the class from the front – Tai wasn't sure if anyone else was smart enough to use the back door in case the lecture had already started.

_Only fifty minutes until I can eat..._ Tai thought to himself. He didn't understand why he was taking the courses he was. _Ah, of course. Because to continue being the UN representative for the Digiworld and also the diplomat for the Digital World, I need to have a couple of qualifications. Damn Gennai. Political Studies. Yawn. I think I almost fell asleep during that today. International Relations. That's what I'm in right now and judging from what that guy is going on about, I feel like shooting myself. But then again, last semester, at the beginning, International Relations was boring as well. But then it got interesting. So maybe I should focus._

The fifty minutes rolled past and Tai left the lecture theatre with a notebook stuffed full of notes. He headed to the library, to his favourite table, and took out his laptop. Signing onto MSN Messenger, he saw that his sister was online. He grinned, and opened up an IM window.

**Naughty Hikari. What are you doing on MSN? Aren't you supposed to be at school?**

I AM at school! I'm in IT. 

**Booooring.**

I know. That's why I'm on MSN. 

**Fair enough. I should go on MSN during my lectures. I didn't today though in case I miss****ed something.**

So how was Political Science and International Relations today?

***groan***

I take that as another "Booooring."

**Smart little Hikari.**

Tai! You know I hate being called that!

**I know. I apologize, Kari.**

So what are you doing now?

**I have another lecture in about two hours. So I'm just chilling.**

Oh, that's right! You've got English lectures. 

**Yeah. I can't believe I actually listened to Gennai.**

A lot of countries speak English and since you said once you leave university you'll start up that 'DigiUnion' thing. Remember? You said. Like a United Nations but for Digidestined around the world. 

**Yeah, I know, I know. So, heard any gossip lately?**

Tai!?

**Hey I'm a college student who hasn't talk to any of the Digidestined for, like, months. Not since graduation.**

Oh yeah....they all went elsewhere.....well, I heard...oops, gotta go now. The bell's gonna go and we have to log off the computers. I'll email you, okay?

**Okay. Ar****e you going to the Digiworld this afternoon?**

Yup! You could join us when your lecture is over.

**I'll see what I can do. I might not be able to. But I'll do my best.**

Okay, see you later!

**Bye.**

Tai watched as his sister went offline, smiling.

_She's turned into a right little miss,_ he thought. _Then again, I went on MSN during IT as well.....I don't blame her. Anyway....I have about an hour and a half till my next lecture. Might go buy lunch._

Tai shut down his laptop and headed down to the Student Union.

*****************************************************

After his English lecture Tai made his way out of the campus. He checked his watch for the time as he headed onto the subway. The train was unusually full for three in the afternoon. Then again, it was the Marunouchi line. Tai was standing there when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Tai turned around and grinned.  
"Joe!"  
"Hey, Tai." Joe said, pushing up his glasses. "What are you doing on this train? You normally take it?"  
"Only this semester." Tai replied. "I take it from Nakano."  
"Are you at Tokyo University?" Joe asked. When Tai nodded, Joe blinked in surprise. "Wow. That's a pretty big accomplishment."  
"Shut up." Tai said. "What about you?"  
"Med school." Joe replied. "Of course. Just a few more years to go...."  
Tai flinched. "Man, I can't even handle a week of college."  
"But that's you. You're just not cut out for school work."  
"No kidding."  
"Do you know where the others went?" Joe asked.  
"You don't know either?"  
"Haven't talked to anyone lately. What do you mean by 'either'?"  
"I haven't talked to anyone else since graduation."  
"That was ages ago, wasn't it?"  
"Yeah." Tai replied. Joe lurched as the train slowed to a stop, and Tai grabbed his shoulder quickly. Joe pushed up his glasses as he stood up straight.  
"Thanks, pal." he said. "So what are you doing at university? I thought you already had a job? Eh?"  
"Yeah, I do." Tai mumbled. "But I listened to Gennai and somehow got roped into doing three of the most boring courses in the universe. But hey, it gives me something to do. I haven't had to travel much."

"Unlike other diplomats. But then again, you are the human ambassador for an entire world. Aren't you just in charge of anything that goes wrong?"  
"Yeah." Tai said. "Have you decided what you're doing after med school?"  
"Yes, I finally thought it out." Joe said, grinning. "I'm going to be the Digiworld's first doctor!"  
"Hey, that's great." Tai said.  
"You think?"  
"Definitely."

Joe looked up at the roof. "You know, every time we save the Digiworld, we're all out of contact. We split up, go our separate ways, you know?"  
"Yeah. Even though Sora and I still live in the same neighbourhood, I never see her." Tai said. "I don't see Matt either. Izzy's in his last year of High School, Mimi's still in America. And the younger kids just do whatever as well."  
"You know what I think." Joe said. "We should all have a reunion."  
"A reunion?" Tai blinked at his older friend. "But...why?"  
"Well, think about it." Joe said. "It's the end of July. The schools are on summer vacation, right?"  
"Yeah."  
"It's been pretty much seven years since we first went to the Digiworld." Joe explained. "Shouldn't we have a reunion? To catch up?"  
Tai brightened up. "Yeah! That's a great idea! I'll ring everybody up when I get home!"  
"Yeah, I thought you might-"

_Ring, ring, ring!  
_Tai took out his cellphone as he and Joe headed off the Marunouchi train line and made their way to the Ginza line.  
"Moshi moshi. Ah, hey Kar'! Why're you ringing? I thought you were going to the Digiworld...."  
_"Yeah but I couldn't hold it in any longer! Plus T.K confirmed it!"  
_"Confirmed what?"  
_"Sora and Matt broke up!"  
_"Ehh?" Tai stared at his phone.  
"What is it?" Joe asked.  
_"Nani? Who's there?"  
_"Ah, it's just Joe." Tai said.  
_"Hi Joe!"  
_"Hi Kari."

"Kar', are you serious?" Tai asked, waving off Joe. "About Sora and Matt?"

"_Nani? Oh, yeah! I'm serious! They broke up, like, months ago! That's the news I wanted to tell you before I had to get off the computer in IT! So, are you going to ring her when you get home?"  
_"What!? What gave you that idea!?"  
_"Um, well, you still like Sora, right?"  
_"That's beside the point. Anyway, yeah, I'm going to ring her. But that's because Joe had a good idea."  
_"Oh, okay! Are you almost home?"_

"Well, we're on the Ginza line now."

"_Oh yeah. The others are coming over for dinner, too! So, gotta go! Ja ne!"  
_"Nani!?" Tai groaned as he got the beep that Kari had hung up.

"So, what's the huge news?"  
"Eh? Oh, Sora and Matt broke up." Tai said. Joe smiled knowingly.  
"Ah."  
"Whaddaya mean 'Ah'?!"  
"Nothing."  
"Don't give me nothing!"

**************************************************

"Tadaima!"  
"Welcome back!"  
Tai removed his shoes while trying to balance on one foot, but unfortunately, he toppled over and fell to the ground against the wall with a crash.

"I'm okay!"  
"What was that?" Mrs Kamiya called from the kitchen.

"Nothing!" Tai replied. He trudged into the living room where the younger Digidestined were all doing homework around the coffee table. "Hey guys."  
"Hi Tai!" they all chorused. Kari stood up and smiled sneakily at her brother.  
"Onii-chan..." she began. Tai rolled his eyes.

"What do you want?"  
"What makes you think I want something?"  
"You only call me 'onii-chan' when you want something."  
Kari copied her elder brother and rolled her eyes. "So are you going to ring Sora?"  
"Huh?" Tai stared blankly at her for a few seconds, and then remembered. "Oh yeah! That's right. Hey, Joe and I decided to have a reunion for us Digidestined."

"A reunion?" Ken asked. Tai nodded.

"Yeah. It's been seven years since the original group went to the Digiworld." Tai explained. "So we reckoned that since I haven't talked to any of the other Digidestined since graduation, maybe a reunion would be a good idea."  
"Sounds awesome." Davis said.  
"When?" T.K asked. Kari smiled.

"It'd be on August 1st, right?"  
Tai nodded. "Yup."

*********************************************

That night Kari was reading in bed while Tai worked on an essay.

"Hey, Tai?"  
"Yeah, Kar'?"  
"Why don't you ask Sora out?"  
"Well....I dunno she goes to a different college and stuff and it's ages away and I barely see her...I haven't talked to her since graduation I didn't even know she and Matt had broken up I mean I thought they were my best friends.....I dunno."  
"You haven't even tried to contact her though."  
"I have, actually. I keep ringing her but she's never home."  
"But...."  
"I don't know if it'll work...."  
"Ask her out! If she says no then that's okay, right? You never see each other. Or you could start with just asking if you can start hanging again, right?"  
"Yeah, I s'pose."  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

See, it's lame. It's really short because I couldn't think of anything and I should be going to bed. But I wanted to finish it.

So, R&R and PLEASE tell me what you thought. It's not my best but it should get better. Also I want to know if ya'll want there to be a Digimon fight or not.

No flames please! However constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!

Arigato gozamasu!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2! Woohoo! So this chapter is introducing Sora and a little bit of what happened around the graduation of Tai, Matt and Sora. Btw, the Japanese at the beginning is the first verse of the standard japanese graduation song....I think.....I saw it on an anime and I did look it up on the net.

So......just to let you know....

_italics_ is thinking. (Or a dream)

_"italics" _is the person on the end of the line on the telephone. I don't know why but I guess I put that so it shows that they're not talking directly.

_*italics* _is a flashback

"normal" is talking face to face.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon**

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_Aogeba tōtoshi wagashi no on  
Oshie no niwa ni mo haya ikutose  
Omoeba ito to shi kono toshitsuki  
Ima koso wakareme izasaraba_

_***  
_

"_Hey, congratulations on your graduation, guys!" _

"_Thanks, Izzy!"  
"That'll be you next year!"  
"Did you three pass your entrance exams?"  
"I did! Joshibi University of Art and Design!"  
"That's great, Sora! What about you Matt?"  
"Yep! Tokyo University of the Arts. I'm going to continue my music there."  
"So you actually want to be a musician?"  
"Maybe. I'll see how that goes. Maybe afterwards I'll study abroad. I'm not really sure what I want to do."  
"Sounds great!"  
"Hey, Tai, did you pass your exams?"  
"Eh? Oh, yeah."  
"Where to?"  
"A university."  
"Ah, never mind. You've got a job already anyway. Why did you even bother? Didn't want to seem like those that go away to study, or look too stupid to go to university, huh?"  
"That sounds more like Tai! I don't even think you passed your exams!"_

_********************************  
_

Tai awoke with a start to his alarm. He took a deep breath and sighed.

_Just a dream,_ he thought. _Just a dream._

He swung out of bed and got dressed, heading out to see what he could eat for breakfast.  
"Morning," he said to his mother who was cooking in the kitchen. She glanced over her shoulder.

"Ah, good morning, Tai. Have a nice sleep?"  
"Yeah, I guess."  
"Kari said she didn't dream anything last night, so she thought maybe you did. **(1)**"  
"Uh, yes, I did have a dream."  
Mrs Kamiya put a plate of fried egg and rice on the counter so Tai could take it.

"How many lectures do you have today?"  
"Just English."  
Mrs Kamiya smiled. "I was so proud of you when you said you got into Tokyo U. The most difficult to get into and you passed the entrance exam."  
"Yeah. A lot of people found it hard to believe." Tai murmured, absentmindedly moving the egg about on his plate with the chopsticks.

"Really?"  
"Yeah. Anyway, so I don't have to go in till later on." Tai stood up and went to get the phone. "Speaking of a lot of people, I need to ring the others."  
He stared at the phone for a while, wondering who to ring first.

_I guess Izzy is out of the question. He's still in High School so he'll be there. But if I ring now I can leave a message. _

He dialled the Izumi household quickly and waited patiently.

"_Moshi moshi, Izumi residence."  
_"Hello Mrs Izumi, it's Tai."  
_"Tai! Hello, haven't heard from you in ages! How have you been?"  
_"Good, thank you."  
_"College treating you well?"  
_"Eh? Oh, yeah. The work is a lot harder than High School but I expected that."  
He heard Mrs Izumi chuckle on the other end. _"Well, Izzy is actually off sick today, so I'll put him right on!"  
_"Shouldn't he be resting if he's sick?"  
_"Oh, you know Izzy. He can't stay away from his computer for long!"  
_Tai laughed. "Yeah, good point!"  
_"Just hold on a minute."  
_While he waited for Izzy to pick up Tai began to eat his breakfast. He was lucky that Izzy was home, but it was kind of awful that he was sick. Then;

"_Tai!"  
_"Woah! Hey, Izzy!" Tai smiled at the sudden loud noise,  
_"Man, I haven't talked to you since you graduated!"  
_"Yeah, I know. It's been a long time."  
_"You just left after we asked you if you'd passed."  
_"Yeah, well. How are you feeling? Your mom said you are sick."  
_"I am. I'm pretty sure it's just a cold though. Anyway, I'm glad I did get sick, otherwise I would've missed your call!"  
_"I would've told your mom to tell you to ring me back. I'll just get straight to the point. I saw Joe yesterday on the subway and we thought it would be great to have a reunion on August 1st! We did a check up and it's a Saturday, so all of us would be free, hopefully. I said I'd ring everyone."  
_"Well as the first leader I suppose it is your duty. have you contacted anyone else?"  
_"The younger kids were at my house last night so I told them last night. They seemed excited. You're the first of the original Digidestined I've rung."  
_"Well, ring Mimi in about three hours, that way you'll catch her before she heads off to school. Um....I'm not sure about Matt and Sora....they did tell me their times for this semester but..."  
_"Wait, wait. Back up a 've been in contact with them?"  
_"Uh, yeah. Sure. Well, they always ring me. They always ring all of us."  
_"How do you know?"  
_"They told me."  
_Tai frowned. "But I haven't heard from them since graduation."  
_"What?"  
_"You heard me correctly."  
_"Oh. Then, you didn't hear about-"_

"I know they broke up, but only from Kari. Yesterday."  
_"Oh. Well, go ring them. I'll see you on the first, right?"  
_"Depends if everyone can go. I'll ring everyone later on to confirm that it's on."  
_"Right. Nice talking to you."  
_"Yeah, same. But question – why didn't you ring me?"  
_"I do ring but every time I do you're never there."  
_"Oh. I see. See you. Get better."  
_"Yep, sure."  
_Tai put down the phone and sighed.

After debating with himself whether to go into the University or not to one lecture, Tai "lost" the debate and sat watching TV. He thought back to that year, his final year of High School, and thought about what a wreck it was, even though he passed his exams.

_*Flashback*_

_There were two days till the entrance exams. Sora and Matt were still making jokes on Tai's bad grades. They were all studying together, along with Izzy, who had been asked to come along._

"_I hope I get into the music school," Matt said. "Or at least pass that one. I mean, what if I don't get into Tokyo U?"  
"A lot of people don't." Izzy said. "No offence, Matt, but in the Digidestined, the people I expect to see at Tokyo U in the future are myself, Yolei, Ken and Cody. Perhaps Kari and T.K. You just aren't the right material for Tokyo U, Matt. Sora, maybe, but you aren't going for that one, are you?"  
Sora shook her head. "No. They have the right facilities but I didn't want to risk not getting in."  
"Hey Tai, you weren't too sure about where you were going, were you?" Matt asked. Tai glanced up from his studies. He hadn't been listening at all. He hadn't really told anyone his choices. Tokyo U was definitely on his list, although....if so many more intelligent people hadn't gotten into the top university, Tai didn't have his hopes high. But he was studying hard.  
"Oh, well, I've been looking at universities all over the country." he said. "I mean, I still want to play soccer while I'm at college so I've pretty much narrowed it down."  
"But I thought you said you wanted to stay in Tokyo." Izzy said. Tai nodded. _

"_I did. Not many have college teams, though, so the search was almost moot."  
_

_Entrance exam day: or at least, the day Tai, Matt and Sora all had exams. Izzy was waiting outside the school when Matt came out first. He punched the sky with a grin.  
"I think I did well!" he said. "I just know for sure I'll pass the music one! And since I think I did well on the Tokyo U exams, I'm waiting for an acceptance letter any day now!"  
"Will you go to Tokyo U if you get in?" Izzy asked. Sora came up behind the boys with Tai in tow. _

"_Of course he will!" she exclaimed. "It's the top university in the country! If he passes up this chance, I'll dump him!"  
"Because I didn't choose the right school?" Matt asked, bewildered. Sora laughed at his expression.  
"No, silly! I was kidding!"  
"Oh. I knew that."  
"Tai, how do you think you went?" Izzy asked the leader of the group. Tai shrugged. That day he had taken the Tokyo U exam. Since the first one that Matt took clashed with his other exam Tai had to take another one, which meant his friends still didn't know. Sora sighed. _

"_You don't think you did well, do you? You always shrug when you think you sucked."  
"Hey, that's not..." Tai tried to protest, but the others were heading off already. He sighed. _

Sure. When I get into Tokyo U, I'll show you all,_ he thought._

_*End Flashback*_

_My best friends, and they were saying stuff like that,_ Tai thought in present time. He sighed as he reached for the phone once more. He had to face her sooner or later, so he dialled in the ever-so-familiar number, and waited. Then he froze at the voice that answered. He recognized it, but it sounded without energy, without life.

"....Sora?"  
_"Tai? What......oh my gosh! Are you actually ringing me!"  
_That sounded like the Sora he knew. Wow, was him ringing actually that big a deal?

"Well, considering you haven't rung me since graduation, I was bound to ring you sooner or later, right? Unlike what you told our dear friend Izzy." Tai said dryly. All he could hear was air on the other end.

"_I'm sorry." _

"Eh?"  
_"I'm sorry. I know, I should've rung. I can't believe it, though! You never ring! I mean, you only ring if you want something or you're wanting to apologize. But, oh, wow."  
_Tai heard her laugh on the other end.

"_I haven't felt this happy in ages!"  
_".....Because I rang?"  
_"Yes! You're like my best friend, I can't believe you called!"  
_"I've been around all the time."  
_"Really? I thought you'd gone out of town for university."  
_Really, now? "No, I've stuck to Tokyo."  
_"Oh, man, I really should've stopped by! Hey! I know! Seeing as I'm at home and not helping mom with the flower shop I'll stop by!"  
_"Sora you don't have to do that...."  
_"No, no, I will. You didn't have to go in today, did you?"  
_"Well, I did, but I decided not to." Tai admitted. He wasn't about to lie to her. Not after so long.

"_Okay then! I'll be over soon! See you!"  
_Sora hung up, and Tai stared at the phone.  
"Well, that was....unexpected...." he said to himself. He pressed the on button to clear the number and punched into Matt's number. As he thought, no one was home, so he left a message.  
"Hey Matt, it's Tai. I need to talk to you about something important, so call me back ASAP. 'Kay? I'm home all day today so just ring when you get this message."

The doorbell rang just as Tai hung up. He stood up to get it when Sora came bursting in. She leapt on him and hugged him tightly so he could barely breathe.  
"Um....ah....Sora....I.....can't....." Sora let go before he could finish his sentence. "Thanks."  
"Oh, wow, you're taller now." she said. She looked him up and down. "You still look the same though. Same messy hair, same lopsided grin, same eyes..."

She went to his bedroom and looked at the walls and the floor. "I see Kari still keeps the room in check."  
"Yup, still no soccer posters." Tai said. "I really wonder what I'm going to do with those."  
Sora laughed. "I missed you."  
"You could've just come over."  
"I dropped out of Joshibi."  
"What? Why?"  
"I dunno, it just wasn't for me. So....I took the Tokyo U exam and passed! So, I transferred. I'm taking fashion and design, photography and English!"  
Tai stiffened at her last lecture. English. Probably the same as his. Bother.

"You see it was funny. I was supposed to start today but there was only one lecture, English, and I couldn't be bothered going." Sora babbled on. "So it's weird how you only have one lecture today too."  
Yeah. Mega weird.

"Coincidence." Tai said.  
"Yeah, I suppose." Sora said. "So why did you ring? Felt like saying hi after all these months or was there a reason."  
"Well, yeah, actually." Tai admitted, and he told her about the reunion. She seemed really excited.  
"Oh wow! What a great idea!"  
"It was Joe's though, so remember to give him the credit on the day." Tai said with a grin. He was glad she was going.

_I still like Sora,_ Tai thought. _I want to ask her out again. We're going to the same university now.......but if she rejects me? Again._

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I don't know whether this chapter was longer than the previous one but I ran out of things to say.

So, footnote

**(1)** Um, I don't know if this is true or not...my friend told me that if you sleep in the same room as someone else only one of you will have a dream.......personally I think it's weird

Please review! No flames please (PLEASE no flames....I'm practically begging here). Constructive criticism is welcomed with open arms.


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